BALTIMORE – Terry Virts threw his first pitch hard and fast to Jason Garcia. Virts was nervous about throwing the first pitch. He’d even watched comically bad first pitches on YouTube.

Throwing a first pitch shouldn’t have worried Virts. This is a man who spent several months aboard the International Space Station. Virts took an Orioles jersey with him when the mission began in Kazakhstan last November.

Just before the first pitch, Virts presented the jersey to manager Buck Showalter.

I'm not sure who's going to receive it. I thought about, you get paranoid about, do you wear rubber gloves to take it? It's not like it's been on the moon or something, right? But I think it's really cool when you stop and think about where it's been and the consideration,” Showalter said.

“It's an honor. It's pretty cool that he thought of us. The views must be unbelievable up there."

In Houston, he became friendly with Phil Garner, who managed his other favorite team, the Astros. Garner was the second baseman for Pittsburgh in 1979 when they beat the Orioles in the World Series.

In 1983, he got to go to the World Series as a hot dog vendor. He was working to raise money for a foreign exchange program his school was running.

“In between innings, I’d sneak down, take a look and go back to selling hot dogs,” Virts said.

Virts gave a NASA tour for the Orioles some years back and became friendly with Jeff Conine. He became friendly with then public relations director Bill Stetka and his successor, the late Monica Barlow.

He was clearly relishing his visit.

“On a nice night like tonight, there’s nowhere better to be in America than Camden Yards,” Virts said.

Virts was puzzled when asked if it was harder being an astronaut than a ballplayer.

“There are a lot more major league baseball players than there are astronauts…These guys are definitely more talented than astronauts are. Getting a chance to fly in space is an honor and privilege. There’ only been a few hundred people in human history who have done that. That’s been pretty fun, too,” Virts said.

Virts had some other things he wanted to give to the team, but his Orioles hat and a Matt Wieters T-shirt were far away.

The 29-year-old right-hander lives in Sarasota and had been working out at the Orioles' facility before spring training. Manager Buck Showalter watched Tillman throw and was impressed.

Tillman began last season on the disabled list with right shoulder stiffness.

"Better than he did last year at this time. I think he's got the chance to pitch well for somebody this year," Showalter said. "A lot of the challenges he had last year -- this time last year -- aren't there. Somebody's going to reap the benefits."

Tillman's is 73-55 with a 4.43 ERA in nine major league seasons, all with the Orioles. He won 16 games in both 2013 and 2016.

"He's a guy when he's healthy you can bank on him giving you 200 innings and keeping his ERA between a 3 and a 4," Gausman said. "That in the AL East is always going to be very valuable."

Live baseball is close to gracing our television screens again. The Orioles haven't had the most active offseason, to put it mildly. Fans are still wondering who will make up more than half the spots in this year's rotation, and Manny Machado's upcoming free agency is looming over every decision the organization makes.

Still, it's exciting to be able to follow the team again. Not every game is televised, so get ready to constantly refresh your favorite beat writer's Twitter account for all your updates.

Even without getting to watch the games, it'll be comforting to once again check box scores in the morning to see if Jonathan Schoop is building on his breakout season, or if top-prospect Austin Hays is all he's cracked up to be (spoiler: he is).

This year's spring training will be especially interesting, considering how many big-name players will be signing in the next few weeks. The O's haven't yet made a big splash this offseason, but with the sheer volume of capable players still on the market, you have to wonder if they'll try to sign some impact players at bargain values.

Typically, the excitement of adding a new piece to the lineup or rotation has to be reignited after a long winter off, but this season, those additions will be taking place while camp is already underway.

It's going to be a hectic few weeks as teams prepare for thier seasons, so bookmark this page to check on on the Orioles spring training schedule over the next few weeks as the team finally takes the field in 2018.